Ball-cock for flush-tanks of water-closets.



K. S. BLANCHARD. BALL 000K POR PLUSH TANKS 0F WATER uLosETs.

APPLICATION FILED OGT. 5. 1912.

Patented Oct. 20, 1914.

anto@ W @Hom/m C0.. PHOTO-LITHO.. wASHlNGrON, D. C.

THE MORRIS PETERS uNrrnn srArns @PATENT onirica KIRK s. BLANCHARD, orBROOKLYN, NNW YORK..l

BALL-COCK FOR FLUSH-TANKS OF WATER-CLOSETS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application le October 5, 1912. Serial No. 724,167.

l To all 'whom t may concern Be it known that I, KIRK S. BLANCHARD,

vply of water to a tank is controlled by a fioat operated valve. I amaware that a great many different devices have been employed for thispurpose, but my invention 1s restricted to that class in which theplunger' valve is closed endwise with an end thrust against a seatsurrounding the inlet port by means of a ioat andl suitable connectionsbetween the lioat lever and valve so that the pressure of the valveagainst its seat` is in direct opposition to the iiuid pressure at theinlet port. One of the advantages of this type of valve is that it opens`full instantly when the opposing pressure of the float is relieved bythe flushing of the tank, the pressure of the fluid at the inlet portserving to assist the instantaneous opening of the valve. Under suchconditions, the pres# sure of the fluid,` tending to open the valve, isconstant and one of the primary objects of my present invention is toassemble the float lever andits connection with the valve in such mannerthat a comparatively light upward pressure yupon the float will produceamaximum degree of pressure upon the valve, tendingto hold it to itsseat against thepressure of the fluid.

Another object is to provide simple means for preventing the forcibleexit of water along the valve through the open end of the valve chamberso as to permit the use of a plain metal plunger without packing.

A still further object is to limit the range of movement of the floatlever to a relatively short arc in openingv and closing the valve,thereby obviating the usual long travel of the float fromthe normalwater level to the bottom ofthe flush tank.

Other objects and uses will be brought out in the following description.

In the drawings-*Figure 1 is a longi-l tudinal vertical sectional view,partly in elevation, of one form of my improved ball cock and a portionof the tank and water Patented oet. so, 1914. j*

supply pipe,'the valve ycase being secured to A the top of the tankwhile thejsupply pipe extends through the bottom of the tankand isconnected to the valve case by a slip joint.

lFig. 2 is asimilar sectional view, Lpartly in elevation, of anotherform of my invention in which the vvalve case is secured to the top ofthe tank while the supply pipe leads to the valve case from the ,top ofthe tank. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical sectional lview of a stillfurther modied form of my invention in which the kvalve case is'secureddirectly to the bottomy of the tank Vand the link connectionbetween thefloat lever and of the valve both in its open andclosed positions. 1 f

In Fig`.-l, I have shown a valve case 1 as provided with a laterallyprojecting bracket 2h secured by suitable fastening means, as a screw-3-, yto the upper edge or top of a flush tank -A-, the main body of thevalve being disposed in an upright position some distance abovethebottom of the tank and isprovided with an open lower end for slipconnection with a water supply l7o valve is disposed at a slight angleto the axis pipe --a-i, extending through the bottom of the tank andconnected thereto in any suitable manner to prevent leakage.

The lower end of the valvej case .-1- isk threaded externally andyprovided with a packing 5 to prevent leakage. The supply pipe zpassesthrough` the central aperture in the cap 4.- and packing -5-` therebypermitting the valve case to lbe adjusted vertically along the upper endof the r`centrally apertured screw-cap 4..- andl leakage at the jointbetween the valve case and supply pipe.

The upper end of the valve case is ofse laterally in the oppositedirection from the bracket --2-w and is provided withy a cylindricalvalve chamber -6-, having an inlet port .7- and an o-utlet port ,-8-,the in-l n I let port being in constant communication with the supplypipe `while the outlet port is normally cut olf from communication by avalve, presently described, and is provided vwith a conduit -9 leadingdownwardly for directing the inflowmg water into the interior of thetank.

A cylindrical plunger valve +10- is fitted with anl easy sliding t andmovable within the valve chamber -'-6-, but isv somewhat longer than thedistance between the valve seat as T and outer-end of the chamber so asto allow the outer end of the valve to project some distance beyond thevalve case when closed. The opposite end of the valve is recessed andprovided with ay packing -11 of rubber, leather or other suitablematerial, closing with an end thrust against the valve seat -7.- whichsurrounds l the inlet port -T-L The intermediate portion of the valve-10` is, provided with an annular groove -12'- locateda distance fromthe packing end oi' said valve less than the distance between the valveseat -7-' and inner end of the valve caseor open end of the valvechamber and is movable with said valve into and out of registration withan auxiliary discharge port M13- This auxiliary outlet leads downwardlyso as to discharge inte the interiorot the tank andis located a distancefrom the valve seat -7- slightly greater than the distance between thepacking end of the valve and annular groove -12- so'that the auxiliaryport is normally closed by the valve when the latter is closed againstits seat -7-, but is open by registration with the groove -12- as soonas the valve recedes from its seat. The object of this annular grooveand auxiliary port is to neutralize or relieve as far as possible theypressure ot the fluids tending to follow along the valve through theopen outer end of the valve chamber, which would be detrimentalparticularly in valves which are secured to the top of the tank as inthe device just described.

The outer end of the valve, which protruoes beyond the valve case, ispivotally connected to a link 1awhich, in turn, is pivotally connectedto a float lever -15--, the latter being pivoted at -16- to a suitablelug 17H on vthe underside of the inner end or" the valve case,preferably at the inner side of the auxiliary discharge opening '18-.This tloat lever is provided with a vertically adjustable section 16'-carrying a float -17- which is adapted to be ope ated by the rise andJfall of the water within the tank. This adjustment of the floatsupporting section 1(5- relatively to the main body of the lever -15- iseffected by connecting these parts by means of a clamping bolt -18-which may be loosened at will when the adjustment is required andretightenedto hold the supporting section -lG- in its adjusted position.

` rlhe pivot w16- upon which the lloat lever -15- is adapted to rockvertically is located in a plane below and some distance from thepivotal connection between the valve lO- and link -14-- toward thepacking end of the valve while the main body oi the lever extends fromsaid pivot across the extended axis of the valve some distance to theopposite side of the pivotal connection between such valve and linkwhile the pivotal connection between the lever .and link is located inapproximately the direct line of movement of the valve or near theextended axis of such valve when the latter is closed so as to cause thelioat lever to exert a direct end thrust pressure upon the valve to holdthe same closed when the float is suiiiciently elevated by the water inthe tank. This disposition oi the connecting link m1t between the valveand iloat lever also establishes a toggle look between the link andlever to more effectively hold the valve against its seat under thebuoyant pressure of the water upon the float.

As previously intimated in the'statement of the object of the invention,the lever and its connections with the valve are arranged so as topermitonly a relatively small movement of the lever from its closed to itsextreme open position and for this purpose the pivoted end of the leveris extended toward the main body of the valve case and provided on itsupper side with a flat abutting face 19 for contact with an opposedabutting face -1J- on the lower side of the outer end oii the valvecase, said abutments being` disposed a short distance from the pivot-16- toward the main body of the valve case and are normally operatedonly a slight distance when the valve is closed with just enoughclearance to allow the valve to 'open before the abutments are broughtinto contact, thereby liiniting the downward movement of the floatirrespectiveof the recession ,of the water in Vthe flush tank during theflushing operation.

The construct-ion shown in Fig. 2 is very similar to that shown in Fig.1 except that the connection between the supply pipe, as and valve caseis coaxial with the valve chamber and valve and allows the ball cock tobe connected to the tank without carrying the supply pipe through anypart of such tank.

1n the ball cock shown in Fig. 3, the valve case is secured directly toand passes through the 'bottoni of the tank to which it is connected byany suitable water tight joint, otherwise this ball cock is very similarto that shown in Figs. 1 and 2 with the single exception that theportion of the float lever as -15- between its pivotal connections withthe valve case and link is straight and that the pivotal connectionbetween the lever and link is adapted to move slightly above and belowthe extended axis of the valve, but in all of these several devices, itwill be observed that the pivotal connection between the float lever andvalve case is below the valve and some distance from the pivotalconnection between the link and valve toward the valve seat.

1t will be observed that by pivoting the lever -15- to the valve casesome distance below the valve and then pivot-ing the link --lll-v to thelever approximately in line with the axis of the valve when such valveis closed; the pivotal connection between the lever and link may movethrough and above and below the extended axis of the valve with theassurance that when the valve seat and valve wears the upward movementof the float lever will always crowd the valve to its seat. This actionis also due to the fact that the pivots for the lever and link on thecasing and valve respectively are located at one and the same side ofthe pivetal connection between the link and lever and that the leverpivot is below the valve, thereby causing` the pivotal connectionbetween vthe lever and link to swing through an arc which intersects theextended axis of the valve at an oblique angle with the center of sucharc below the valve.

-What I claim is:

l. A ball cock comprising; a Valve case having' an inlet port andseparate outlet ports at different distances from the inlet port, aplunger valve coaxial. with the inlet port for opening' and closingthesame and movable across the outlet ports, said valve having' an annularchannel registering with the outlet port farthest from the inlet port',a float lever pivoted to the valve case at a point some distance belowthe valve and be yond the farthest outlet and extended across theproduced axis of the valve some distance beyond the outer end thereof,and a link'- Copiesof this patent may be obtained for pivotallyconnected to the valve and to the considerably less than the distancebetween the lever pivot and its pivotal connection with the link. i

2. A ball cock comprising a valvek case having an inlet port and anoutlet port, a plungervalve coaxial with the inlet port for opening` andclosing' the same and movable across the outlet port, a ioat leverpivoted to the valve case at a point some distance below the valve andextended some distancebeyond the valve and across the produced axisthereof, means for limiting the downward movement of the lever, and alink pivotally connected to said lever and to the outer end of the valvein approximately the horizontal plane of said axis, the distance betweenthe pivotal connections of the link with the valve and lever beingconsiderably less than the distance between the pivotal connection ofthe link with the lever and the pivotal support of the lever, while thedistance between thel pivotal connection of the valve with the link andthe inlet port isa considerably greater distance than the dishandthis28th day of September 1912.

KIRK S. BLANCHARD. Witnesses A. NE1L WILoox, C., H. MERRITT.

five .cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of lateilts,r-

Washington, D. C.

